The present invention relates to a box-type security entrance with interlocked doors, for banks and the like.
Among the preventive defense measures against crime, box-type security entrances with interlocked doors are having ever greater success in banks and all buildings exposed to the risk of robbery.
It is surely unnecessary to dwell on the well known reasons for this success. It is wished here to draw attention to the fact that, by virtue of these boxes, one controller alone can ensure very high security for the bank.
In fact, if a criminal were to attempt to enter the bank with a weapon, a metal detector would prevent the opening of one of the two entrance doors to the bank, stopping the criminal from entering and at the same time giving the alarm to a controller in a kiosk adjacent the box.
Of course, the presence of an armed criminal is not the only possible cause of triggering of the alarm, indeed in most cases the alarm is set off by accident or due to the presence of harmless metal bodies. It is the duty of the controller to evaluate the situation and decide how to behave.
The typical behaviour of the controller is that of ascertaining first of all whether the user who has caused the alarm is a person who is known and trustworthy; if that is the case, the controller unlocks the system and allows the user to enter.
If the user who has caused the alarm does not give sufficient assurance (or if the regulations of the bank are that the system is not to be unlocked regardless of who the person involved might be), the controller proceeds with the checking which is usually carried out in the following manner.
The controller invites the user to turn round and possibly leave metal objects which may have caused the alarm in a suitable security locker. The user then leaves the box by the door through which he had entered and repeats the passage through the metal detector.
From what has been explained, there is clearly a problem connected with the use of boxes with interlocked doors. This problem is the extreme delicacy of the controller's task. The security of the bank is in fact entrusted to his sensitivity and loyalty. Moreover the fact that he is the only one to have such a responsibility could even involve him in complicity with criminals.
In order to eliminate this danger, the general trend is to replace the controller by automatic devices of various types. For example, the possibility has been studied of providing the box with a recorder or preferably a voice synthesizer, and an automatic resetting system. In the event of an alarm, the voice synthesizer comes into operation and invites the user to turn round and deposit any metal objects. When the user has left the box, an automatic system cancels the alarm and puts it back into operation.
This solution is not entirely satisfactory however. In fact, in the event of an alarm, it could cause considerable chaos in the flow of users. It has in fact been tried in various fields that the average reaction time of a person confronted with an artificial voice which invites him to carry out an unexpected operation (quite contrary to that which the person expected to do) are very long, such as almost to require at least one repetition of the message.
The consequences of an alarm at peak times are easily imaginable: if the user who has caused the alarm is not quick, there is the risk that the entrance to the bank will remain blocked for a long time.
Another proposal studied is that of providing revolving sector doors in which the alarm causes the reversal of the sense of rotation; the user who has caused the alarm is thus returned to the exit. With this proposal, however, it is clear that, although the exit time of the user is predetermined, it does not in fact avoid a certain confusion; indeed it is easy for other users also to be involved in the reverse movement with obvious discomfort. It is also possible that, during the stoppage, a user who has nothing to do with the alarm may remain trapped and have to wait for the situation to normalize.
It is thus clear that the solutions proposed until now cannot be used in practice since they would risk complicating matters to such an extent as to make entry to the bank disagreeable to the users.
There is thus a problem of affording maximum security to a bank (independently of subjective factors) preventing that any alarm creates obstacles such as seriously to disturb the normal flow of users.